Blue Yeti review – I mean, it’s actually silver

The Blue Yeti is said to be one of the best USB microphones money can buy. Aside from its quality, one of the Yeti’s advantages over the typical XLR microphones is its ‘plug-and-play’ feature – you don’t need to mess around with anything else, you can just plug the USB into your PC and start recording amazing sound instantly.

So what other great features does this microphone hide in its stylish metal body?
Firstly, it has an inbuilt headphone amplifier for zero-latency audio monitoring. This is a great feature if you’re a streamer and want to be able to hear yourself as the audience hears you, so you know if you need to speak louder or quieter into the mic. It also has four different pattern modes: cardioid, stereo, omnidirectional and bidirectional. This is made possible by the tri-capsule technology inside the Yeti.

Cardioid mode is great for streaming or singing, as it only records the audio directly in front of the microphone, cutting out most of the unnecessary background audio that you won’t want in your final track.
Stereo mode makes use of both the left and right channels to produce a wide, realistic sound. This is absolutely brilliant for choirs and recording acoustic guitars.
Omnidirectional mode picks up the sound equally all the way around the mic. It’s a perfect setting if you’re playing a tabletop game and want to have your Yeti in the middle of the table and record everyone’s voice perfectly.
Finally, bidirectional mode only picks up sound from the front and back of the Yeti. It’s a great setting for recording a duet or an interview.

These modes can be switched at any time from the back of the microphone, but also at the back of the Yeti is a gain control. This allows you adjust the sensitivity of the mic on the fly, whether you need to lower distortion from a loud source or make the little things more obvious.

The front of the Yeti sports the ‘Blue’ logo and a couple of other things. Firstly it has a mute button to allow you to take a break in the middle of a recording or podcast. I mean, you don’t want your audience to know you live with your parents, right? The volume control on the front is for the audio monitoring.

The mic fits really nicely on its stand and is very simple to position. The mic is connected to your PC or Mac via micro USB. The cable that comes with the Yeti is quite short, so I’d recommend buying a longer one. The underside of the Yeti also has a 5/16 inch fitting which is a standard size for microphones. However, some of the Yetis have been produced with slightly larger fittings, so make sure to measure the hole before buying a boom arm or shock mount.

There are just a couple of things I want to mention before I conclude. The Yeti picks up a lot of vibration and keyboard sounds if it’s situated on the desk, so I’d definitely recommend getting a shock mount and a boom arm to go with it. A popular combination is the Blue Radius II Shock Mount and the RØDE PSA1 Swivel Mount Boom Arm. These definitely reduce the vibrations and are almost necessary for gamers and streamers.

I would also recommend getting a pop filter with any microphone. You can find them just about anywhere on the internet and they’re quite cheap. I found one here on Amazon and it works just fine.

If you’re wondering what the Yeti sounds like, this is a great video by IIRockstarrxX that really highlights the difference having a good microphone can make.

Conclusion

Overall, the Blue Yeti is a great USB microphone and is certainly a great microphone for the price. Would I recommend it to anyone starting out recording? Definitely. Is it really the best USB microphone out there? I don’t know, but I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Isaac founded Bluefire Media in 2017, wrote a few reviews and then decided to expand the website.

His love of gadgets stems from the many, many hours wasted playing Club Penguin as a child and his articles on Bluefire mostly revolve around gadgets and fun things, but he’s also an avid gamer and can tell you more about Minecraft than 90% of the population.